Who is Jesus?
In one sentence: Jesus is the eternal Son of God who became truly human without ever ceasing to be truly God.
In the last article, we saw that Christ is not Jesus’ last name. It is His title. Jesus is the promised Christ, the Anointed One, the Savior and King God promised from the beginning. But that leads to another important question. Who is Jesus?
Many people are comfortable saying that Jesus was a good teacher, a wise man, a prophet, or a powerful example of love. All of those descriptions may sound respectful, but they do not go far enough. The Bible does not present Jesus as merely one more religious figure among many. The Bible presents Jesus as the eternal Son of God who took on flesh and came to save sinners.
John begins his Gospel by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then a few verses later he says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). That is a stunning claim. Jesus did not begin to exist in Bethlehem. His human life began there, but the Son of God is eternal.
Before the manger, before Mary held Him in her arms, before the angels announced His birth to shepherds, the Son was with the Father. He was not created. He was not adopted into God’s family later. He was not a man who became divine. He is the eternal Son who came down to us.
At the same time, Jesus really became human. He was not pretending. He was not God wearing a human costume. Jesus was born. He grew. He became tired. He got hungry. He wept. He slept. He learned obedience. He was tempted. He suffered. He died. This matters because the Son of God did not save us from a safe distance. He came near. He stepped into our world of weakness, pain, hunger, grief, temptation, and death. He entered the brokenness caused by sin, yet He Himself never sinned.
Jesus is truly God and truly man.
That sentence is simple, but it is one of the most important truths in the Christian faith. If Jesus is not truly God, then He cannot fully reveal God to us or save us by His power. If Jesus is not truly man, then He cannot stand in our place, obey where we failed, suffer for our sin, or represent us before God. Only God can save. But man had sinned. So the Savior had to be truly God and truly man.
This is why the birth of Jesus is so much more than a sweet Christmas scene. The baby in the manger is the eternal Son of God. The One who made Mary is now being carried by Mary. The One who upholds the universe is now being wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger. That should fill us with wonder.
Jesus shows us what God is like. When we look at Jesus, we are not seeing a blurry picture of God. We are seeing God come near. Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). That does not mean the Father and the Son are the same person. It means the Son perfectly reveals the Father.
Do you want to know if God is holy? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know if God is merciful? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know if God cares for sinners, sufferers, outcasts, and the weak? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know if God takes sin seriously? Look at Jesus, especially at the cross.
Jesus also shows us what humanity was meant to be. He is not less human because He never sinned. He is the only fully faithful human who ever lived. Sin does not make us more human. Sin makes us broken. Jesus is the true human, the faithful Son, the obedient servant, and the perfect image of God. That means Jesus is not merely our example, but He is not less than our example. He shows us the life we were created for. A life of trust, love, obedience, humility, prayer, compassion, holiness, and surrender to the Father.
But if Jesus were only an example, we would still be lost. We need more than someone to admire. We need someone to rescue us. The good news is that Jesus came to do what we could not do. He came to reveal God to us, stand with us, obey for us, die for us, rise for us, and bring us back to God.
Why does this matter?
This matters because getting Jesus wrong changes everything.
If Jesus is only a teacher, then Christianity becomes advice. If Jesus is only an example, then Christianity becomes self-improvement. If Jesus is only a prophet, then Christianity becomes one more message among many. But if Jesus is the eternal Son of God who became man to save sinners, then Christianity is good news.
We do not climb our way up to God. God came down to us. We do not save ourselves by trying harder. The Son of God came to save. We do not have a distant God who is untouched by our weakness. We have a Savior who entered our weakness without ever giving in to sin.
This gives us confidence to trust Him. Jesus is strong enough to save because He is God. Jesus is near enough to understand because He became man. He is not ashamed to call His people brothers and sisters. He knows our weakness, and He is able to help.
For Further Thought
These questions are not meant to create arguments, but to encourage careful, charitable, Bible-shaped conversation. I’d love to hear your thoughts/answers to any/all of these questions in the comments.
- What are some common ways people describe Jesus that sound respectful but still fall short of what the Bible teaches?
- Why does it matter that Jesus existed before His birth in Bethlehem?
- Why is it important that Jesus truly became human and did not merely appear human?
- How does Jesus show us what God is like?
- How does Jesus show us what humanity was meant to be?